Nowhere
by mayoral
Summary: A loner leaves his home and ends up in a place that's even worse. Well, at least the old lady's nice. (Animals are humans.)
1. Chapter 1

Rust was on a train.

He had had enough of his old life, enough with the mockery and the hypocrisy and the hate. This was why he was on the train, leaving his hometown, going to who the hell knows where.

The conductor's voice rang through the halls, "Last stop, everybody off!" The train doors clanged open. Rust looked at the small man in seated across from him, seeing if he would get off. He didn't move. When Rust inquired why, he said, "I'll be fine. You just worry about yourself." Rust was unsatisfied, but left the train anyway. He was sure a crazy like that would do whatever he wanted anyway, despite any suggestions by anyone else.

He stepped out of the train alone, and looked at his surroundings. This place was broken down. The landscape was empty, the houses were broken down, and the nature that did exist was unruly and wild. The perfect place for an outcast like him.

He saw a figure coming toward him on the horizon. He was startled, and reached for anything that might be a weapon in his pockets. Before he could grab anything however, he saw that the shape was smaller than it would be for a thug, and thinner. He took his hands out of his pockets and walked towards it.

Before long, he reached a young woman. She had long, blonde hair, a youthful face, and seemed entirely out of place. Her clothes were clean and pressed, and bright yellow. She introduced herself, "Hello, Mayor! I'm Isabelle, and I'm your new secretary!"

"Mayor? I think you're mistaken. I'm no mayor."

"Sure you are! Now come here, the residents are dying to meet you!

She led him to a large, run-down, office building, where several people were waiting outside, as he denied repeatedly that he was the mayor. She paid no attention to his objections.

"Citizens of Nowhere," she declared, "this is your new mayor! Mayor, introduce yourself!"

All eyes were on him. Among the crowd, he noticed an old, strikingly bony and pale woman, a large asian man with oddly red eyes, and a girl with so much makeup, it seemed as if she were compensating for something.

"Well, um... I'm Rust. But I'm not your mayor. I just came here to get away...not to accept any kind of new responsibility."

"WELCOME MAYOR RUST!" the crowd screamed in unison.

"Well, we better get our new leader settled in, so I'll lead him to his house. He'll meet with all of you later, ok?" Isabelle said. The crowd agreed, and Rust found himself being led to his 'house'.

"Look, I'm not the best candidate for mayor, alright? When's the next train out of here?"

Isabelle turned to him, a surprisingly angry expression on her face.

"Look. I get that you didn't sign up for this. But these people have been waiting for a mayor for the past month, and I can't bear to tell them that no one's coming. These people are all outcasts, and they just need somebody, ok? And you came here to get away, right? What's the harm in taking this on, too? I promise you won't regret it. Think about it, they'll have someone, and you'll have someone. Have a heart!"

Rust was stunned. She made some good points, it's not like he had anything to go back to, anyways.

"Ok," he said. "I'll take the job."


	2. Meet the Neighbors

After reaching his 'house' (which was actually a 'tent', which was actually three sticks with a tarp over them), Rust was forced by Isabelle to attend a tree-planting ceremony. It was pretty uneventful, but he did notice two new faces in the crowd, a girl with a bob and a big guy with a ponytail.

After the tree-planting, he asked Isabelle what he should do next. She told him to "introduce himself to everyone." This was the last thing Rust wanted to do. He was not a people person. He did not want to meet any new people. When he met new people, they were rarely good people. This was part of the reason he had left in the first place, and he did not feel like moving towns twice in one day.

However, Isabelle was incredibly persistent, and a little scary, and Rust found himself walking over to the old lady villager, ready to strike up a conversation.

"Hello," he said. "What's your name?"

"Me?" she replied. "My name is Coco. I'm so glad you're our new mayor! If you ask me, it's about time someone took charge in this place. I know you'll do just a fabulous job. After all, something's better than nothing, right?!"

Rust was taken aback at her encouraging tone and huge smile. He had expected to be terribly received. After all, he was a stranger here. He was half-glad, half-confused at her response.

"Um... thanks for the encouragement. You seem really nice. Look, it's been nice talking to you but, um... I should really meet the rest of the town. I hope you don't mind."

"No, no, I don't mind at all! I'm sure the rest of the town will love to meet you! Well, except maybe Hopper... oh well, most of the town will be glad to meet you!"

With a parting thanks, he headed off to meet the rest of the village.

* * *

After he met the big guy (Dizzy), who was nice but a bit ditzy, and the girl with the bob (Purrl), who was standoffish and oddly obsessed with cats, he ventured out to meet the girl with the makeup. He wanted to save 'Hopper' (who he'd figured out was the old, asian man) for last.

He walked over to her and said hello. As she greeted him back, he was surprised at her voice. It was lower than he thought it would have been for someone who looked so feminine. He wanted to ask about it, bit didn't want to be rude.

Overall, she was as nice as Coco had been, if a little less enthusiastic. Rust thought that she was someone he could really get along with. However, he felt that something was a little off about her...

* * *

As he went over to Hopper's house, he felt dread. He didn't want to meet this guy. The rest of the villagers had been pretty nice, and he supposed no town could be perfect. This guy must be the weak link.

He walked into the house, and looked at the man. His eyes were red. Not the irises, but his eyelids looked unnaturally red, and his eyes were bloodshot. He had a calm expression on his face. Rust quickly figured out that he was high. The smoke in the room kind of tipped him off, too.

"Hello," Rust said, trying not to inhale the smoke.

"Hello, old buddy, old pal! Gotta say, loving that you're mayor. If anyone can do it, you can, huh!"

He then gave Rust a slap on the back that actually hurt. Rust figured whatever he was smoking was making him much mellower than he normally would be.

"Yeah... buddy. Thanks. Look, I've gotta get going here, but... maybe we can catch up later? Like, um, old times." Rust hoped that this would work to get him a quick escape.

Luckily, it did, and he was out of there with a quick "Sure buddy, anytime!" and another slap on the back. He thought that Coco might want to hear about this new development, but it was late, and he was tired. He'd trek her tomorrow, but for tonight it was off to bed. If he could even sleep in that godforsaken tent.

* * *

**A/N: Liking the story? Leave a review! Give me encouragement :D**


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